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A History of Speed
By Eric S Brown
When the average American thinks of the Flash, they usually think of Barry Allen because in many ways he is the definitive version of the character. Barry has been referenced throughout pop culture in everything from films like “Catch Me if YouCan” to a legion of DC cartoons and even had his own live action TV show on CBS inthe early 1990s. The typical modern comic fan however is more likely to name the Flashas Wally West because he is the current Flash active in the DCU. The legacy of the Flashhowever actually began with Jay Garrick in the early 1940s when Flash Comics # 1landed on newsstands across the country. It wasn’t published by DC but rather AllAmerican Publications, one of the three companies which would merge together to formDC Comics as we know it today.Characters like Superman and Batman had already been around for a fewyears and the genre was booming. Jay Garrick, and the character of the Flash, was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert in an effort to capitalize on the popularityof superheroes at that time. The Flash was perhaps the very first single powered hero incomics. His only power being that of super speed. The character developed a hugefollowing and quickly grew popular enough to support not only his own title (All FlashComics) but was also the regular feature of Comics Cavalcade as well. Unlike Supermanand Batman, The Flash had no secret identity that needed protecting when he wascreated. It was widely known in the world of DC that Jay Garrick was “the fastest manalive.” Jay was a college student studying physics who was involved in a lab accident. By breathing hard water vapors, he was gifted with the ability to move at the speed of light.He decided to use this power to fight crime and donned a red shirt sporting a bight yellowlightning bolt on its front and a winged helmet similar to that of the Greek God Hermesto become known as the Flash. The winged helmet had belonged to Jay’s father and had been passed down to him after his father’s death. Jay wore the helmet to honor thesacrifices his dad made in world war I. Thus, the first speedster ever in comics was born.In later years, DC would claim that the lab accident didn’t really give Jay his powers butmerely activated a latent gene he carried making him a true meta-human.The Flash fought crime in the streets of New York originally before later moving to Keystone City. He battled gangs and mobsters, struggling to make the streetssafe for the average citizen. During these early adventures, he also battled super poweredfoes such as the Changeling. The Changeling was a small time crook named Eric Razar who was electrocuted during a prison break. As the electricity rippled through his flesh hedidn’t die instead his genetic make up was somehow altered giving him the ability toshape shift into various animals. Eric Razar has no relation to the green skinnedChangeling who would become part of the Doom Patrol and later the New Teen Titans but he did serve as one of Jay’s most reoccurring enemies for the entire run of All FlashComics. Jay’s most powerful foe was Dr. Edward Clariss. Clariss was a scientist whorecreated the formula which gave Jay his speed. Clariss used the formula on himself andgave Jay the toughest throw downs of his career. As All Flash Comics’s run came to anend, Clariss faced off with Jay and ran so fast he was consumed by the “speed force”. Thespeed force is the source of the later Flashes’ powers and is a mass of energy beyond theunderstanding of modern science which operates outside of the normal laws of physics.
 
Clariss would spend fifty years trapped with the energy being eaten alive by it only toreemerge more powerful than ever in modern comics. In issues sixteen and seventeen of the 1987 J.S.A. series, he returns as part of the new Injustice Society seeking vengeanceon Jay driven completely insane by his years of imprisonment. Clariss’ speed rivals thatof the later Flash enemies, Professor Zoom and Zolomon Hunter, in these issues and theonly way Jan can defeat him is to absorb some of Clariss’ own speed to use against him.The conflict ends with Clariss once again pushing himself too far and his physical form isdestroyed by the speed force but this time instead of his being merging with it hisconsciousness is lost to the winds. Since that epic battle, Clariss has only made onefurther appearance to date but his essence lives on at large in the DCU. Many viewClariss as the prototype which paved the way for the Flash legacy of villains known asthe Reverse Flash. This mantle has been worn by Professor Zoom and Zolomon Hunter (The new Zoom) but the very first true Reverse Flash appeared in the form of a robotversion of Jay Garrick who terrorized the city until Barry Allen was able to shut the robotdown and destroy it.During the original All Flash and Comic Cavalcade runs of the character,The Flash would also make many allies. Often he would team up with the likes of Black Canary, Dr. Fate, Wonder Woman, and others the most important of which was AlanScott, the original Green Lantern. The two would become fast and extremely closefriends who together would help form the Justice Society of America (DC’s first team of heroes) as founding members of the organization. Jay would become the J.S.A.’s firstchairman as well taking on a leadership role the super hero community that he retains ona different level even today.Eventually DC would change its mind and decide to give Jay Garrick asecret identity in attempt to add more depth to the character of the Flash. Though henever wore a mask DC explained that Garrick concealed his face by vibrating itconstantly at hyper speeds which made it impossible to photograph and extremelydifficult to see. This secret Identity would not last long and by the 1978 FlashSpectactular issue he would reveal who he was to the world again.All Flash Comics ended its run in 1949 with its 104thissue during the postwar decline of the super genre in comics but the Flash himself continued to active in theDCU until he along with the entire J.S.A. were forced into retirement by a branch of thegovernment called “The House of Un-American Ideas”. This organization implemented asort of law that all heroes operating in the U.S. had to make their real life names knownto the government so that it could keep track of them. The J.S.A. disbanded in protestrather than challenge the power of the White House or put their loved ones at risk bygoing public.In one of the J.S.A.’s final battles, the team faced off against a being of immense power by the name of Ian Karkull. This battle trapped the team in a sort of mystical limbo where for decades they fought the same battle over and over again untilthey were finally freed. This conflict imbued the members of the J.S.A. with a residualenergy which has kept them young despite the passage of time. Even today, Jay Garrick remains in the shape of that equal to a fifty year old man even though he is actually muchcloser to one hundred years old.The Flash was the only member of the J.S.A. to stay active and didn’t
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